1878
Year 1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). Events of 1878 January - March .]] * January - Cleopatra's Needle arrives in London * January 9 - Humbert I becomes King of Italy * January 5 - Battle of Shipka Pass IV * January 17 - Battle of Plovdiv * January 23 - Benjamin Disraeli orders British fleet to the Dardanelles * January 24 - The revolutionary Vera Zasulich shoots at Fyodor Trepov, the Governor of Saint Petersburg. * January 28 - The Yale News becomes the first daily, college newspaper in the United States. * January 31 - Turkey agrees to armistice at Adrianople * February 2 - Greece declares war on Turkey. * February 8 - British fleet enters Turkish waters and anchors off Istanbul - Russia threatens to occupy Istanbul but does not carry out the threat * February 18 - The Lincoln County War begins in Lincoln County * February 19 - The phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison * February 20 - Pope Leo XIII succeeds Pope Pius IX as the 256th pope. * February 24 - Anti-Russian demonstrations in Hyde Park * February 28 - Mississippi State University is created by the Mississippi Legislature (under the name The Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi) * March 3 **Bulgaria regained its independence from Ottoman Empire. **The Treaty of San Stefano concludes the Russo-Turkish War * March 24 - The UK frigate Eurydice sinks, killing 300. * March 25 - Russia rejects British proposal to lay San Stefano treaty before European congress * March 27 - In anticipation with war with Russia, Disraeli mobilizes the reserves and calls up Indian troops to Malta April - June *April 20 - The Stawell Gift is run for the first time. * May 15 - Tokyo Stock Exchange established * June 4 - Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title. * June 10 - League of Prizren is established * June 12 - July 12 - Congress of Berlin about the Ottoman Empire *June 22 - Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld leaves Karlskrona on a voyage that will make him the first to navigate the Northern Sea Route, a shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean along the Siberian coast. July - September * July 13 - The Treaty of Berlin makes Serbia, Montenegro and Romania completely independent * July 26 - In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside. * September 3 - Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames. * September 20 - The Hindu founded October - December * October 1 - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) opens as Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. * October 14 - The worlds first recorded floodlit football fixture is played at Bramall Lane in Sheffield * October 17 - John A. Macdonald returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada. * November 17 - First assassination attempt against Umberto I of Italy. * November 21 - Second Afghan War commences when the British attack Ali Masjid in the Khyber Pass. Undated * The Buchan School was founded on the Isle of Man. * Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Football Club, the team that would become Manchester United, was founded. * Yellow fever in Mississippi Valley - over 13,000 dead * US arbitration rejects Argentinean claims to Paraguay's part of Chaco region * West Bromwich Albion F.C. play their first match. * Everton Football Club, then known as St Domingo, formed Births January - June * January 6 - Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (d. 1967) * January 12 - Ferenc Molnár, author (d. 1952) * January 20 - Ruth St. Denis, dancer (d. 1968) * January 25 - Ernst Alexanderson, Swedish-born television pioneer (d. 1975) * February 1 - Milan Hodža, Slovak politician, champion of regional integration in Europe (d. 1944) * February 2 - Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer and architect (d. 1955) * February 5 - André Citroën, French automobile manufacturer (d. 1935) * February 8 - Martin Buber, Austrian philosopher (d. 1965) * February 14 - Hirota Koki, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948) * February 21 - The Mother (Mirra Alfassa), multi-origined spiritual leader and founder of Auroville in India (d. 1973) * February 26 - Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano (d. 1930) * February 28 - Pierre Fatou, French mathematician (d. 1929) * March 4 **Egbert Van Alstyne, United States songwriter and pianist (d. 1951) **Peter D. Ouspensky, Russian philosopher (d. 1947) **Arishima Takeo, Japanese novelist, short-story writer and essayist (d. 1923) * March 16 - Clemens August Graf von Galen, German Catholic cardinal (d. 1946) * March 22 - Michel Théato, Luxembourg athlete (d. 1919) * March 31 - Jack Johnson, American boxer (d. 1946) * April 6 - Erich Mühsam, German author (d. 1934) * April 24 - Jean Crotti, Swiss artist (d. 1958) * April 28 **Lionel Barrymore, American actor (d. 1954) **Willem Mengelberg, Dutch conductor (d. 1951) * May 3 - Cruz Hernandez, Oldest Living Person (disputed) (d. 2007) * May 10 - Gustav Stresemann, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1929) *May 25 - Bill Robinson, Tap Dancer (d. 1949) * May 26 - Isadora Duncan, American dancer (d. 1927) * May 28 - Paul Pelliot, French sinologist (d. 1945) * June 1 - John Masefield, English poet and novelist (d. 1967) * June 3 - Barney Oldfield, American automobile racer and pioneer (d. 1946) * June 5 - Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary (d. 1923) July - December * July 4 - George M. Cohan, American singer, dancer, composer, actor, and writer (d. 1942) * July 24 - Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, Irish author (d. 1957) * August 10 - Alfred Döblin, German writer (d. 1957) * August 28 - George Whipple, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1976) * August 31 - Frank Jarvis, American athlete (d. 1933) * September 5 - Robert von Lieben, Austrian physicist (d. 1913) * September 13 - Matilde Moisant, American pilot (d. 1964) * September 20 - Upton Sinclair, American writer (d. 1968) * September 22 - Yoshida Shigeru, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1967) * September 24 - C. F. Ramuz, Swiss writer (d. 1947) * October 1 - Othmar Spann, Austrian philosopher and economist (d. 1950) * October 16 - Maxey Long, American athlete (d. 1959) * October 24 - H.W. Hughes, American writer and activist (d. January 18, 1950) * November 1 - Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentine politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1959) * November 14 - Leopold Staff, Polish poet (d. 1957) * November 17 - Grace Abbott, American social worker and activist (d. 1939) * December 18 - Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader (d. 1953) * December 25 **Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-born race driver and automobile builder (d. 1941) **Joseph Schenck, Russian-born film executive (d. 1961) *December 28 - Nikolai Bryukhanov, Soviet statesman and political figure who served as People's Commissar of Finances (d.1938) * December 31 - Elizabeth Arden, Canadian-born beautician and cosmetics entrepreneur (d. 1966) * December 31 - Horacio Quiroga, Argentina's writer was born in Salto, Uruguay (d. 1937) : See also 1878 births. Deaths January - June *January 9 - King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (b. 1820) *January 18 - Antoine César Becquerel, French scientist (b. 1788) *February 7 - Pope Pius IX (b. 1792) *February 11 - Gideon Welles, American politician (b. 1802) *February 19 - Charles-Francois Daubigny, French painter (b. 1817) *February 26 - Angelo Secchi, Italian astronomer (b. 1818) *March 8 - Archduke Franz Karl of Austria (b. 1802) *April 8 - Henrietta Treffz, soprano, first wife of Johann Strauss II (b. 1818) *April 12 - William Marcy Tweed, American politician (b. 1823) *April 25 - Anna Sewell, English author (b. 1820) *May 28 - John Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1792) *June 6 **Robert Stirling, Scottish clergyman and inventor (b. 1790) **Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers, Marshal of France (b. 1795) **Porter Rockwell, Mormon bodyguard (b. 1815) *June 12 **George V of Hanover (b. 1819) **Hendrik Jut, murderer (b. 1851) July - December *July 1 - Catherine Winkworth, translator of hymns (b. 1827) *July 17 - Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet (b. 1812) *August 30 - James Geiss, English businessman (b. 1820) *November 28 - Orson Hyde, American religious leader (b. 1805) *December 10 - Henry Wells, American businessman (b. 1805) *December 14 - Princess Alice (b. 1843) : See also 1878 deaths.